Grape stemmer



Patented July 21, 1936 UNITED STATES 2,048,470 GRAPE STEMMER,

Ralph E. Sanborn, San Francisco, Calif., assignor to California Packing Corporation, San Francisco, Calif., a corporation of New York This invention relates to a machine forremoving the stems of grapes, and while the invention may: be employed forvremoving the stems of grapes of substantially spherical form, it is particularly applicable for stemming grapes of.

elongated or oval form. y

invention is intended primarily for use on seedless grapes, such as the Thompson Seedless or the Sultana variety. These grapeshave apeeuliarity oif growth which'difierentiates them from other varieties. The. individual berries are attached to the main stems of the bunch by a short segment of stem, known technically as the cap-stem. When the berries are, pulled away from the stems of such varieties as Muscats, or.

other, seeded varieties, the natural tendency isfor the berry to pull clean away fromthe stem,

a. small portion of the flesh" coming away with,

the stem. In contradistinction, the tendencyof g, eed ss apes s or the c t ru l awa with the berry, thus leaving the individual berries with this short cap-stem attached to the berry.

This characteristic of the seedless grape necessie,

, tates a second operation toremove the cap-stems 2 5 from the berries after they have been separated from the main stem. The purpose of the present n e i n yz wo-fp di name y, t n idc'simple means for removing the berries fromgthe main stem and, secondly, 1 and more'importantlygto 3Q provide means for removing the cap-stemsfrom he ll la r es Thi Se un ns by far the nio're costlypartoi stemmingseedless r pes, an themachine has great utility. even whe u e o t is 1 ewed O e tio a 3 5 ithe general, obje. t of; this invention is to pro- "Vide a machine of simple construction; having means for receiving and supporting the grapes and, capable of operating to efieot the removal of the stems, and particularly the cap-stems. 49 7 A further object of-theinvention is to provide a machine of this lsind, which can operate'upon large quantities of grapes whenyplacedf upon the same, and which does not necessitatethe us'eofv 45 means for feedingthe grapes to the machine r-anyparticular position, or in any regular manner. Further objects of the'invention will appear hereinafter. "3 The invention consists in ,thenovel parts and combination of parts to be described hereinafter, all of which contribute to produce aneflicient grape stemmer.

A" preferred embodiment of the invention is F9 T1p3q i he e l w n n fiwi qmwhile 1 1? PATENT OFFICE broad scope of the invention isqpointed out in the appended claims. q

,In the drawing: v r .Figure l is a side elevation of a machine embodying my invention and showing the tableof 5 the machine. set up 'for operation. r v

c Fig.- 2 is a plan of the machine illustrated in Fig. 1', but representing thetableof the machine in a'horizontal position and not. inclined as in Fig.1.

Fig. 3 is=a vertical section on the line 3-3 of 1:, ,upon an enlarged scale takenat one edge of the table and illustrating details of the construction and mode of operation of the machines This View illustrates the manner in which the 15 rollers operate to remove the stems of the grapes Fig. 4 is a plan showing a short, length of two companion rollers, and further illustrating the manner in which they cooperate to support the grapes and efiect the. removal of the stems from the same. I I I r In practicing my invention I provide one or more pairs of companion rollers'mounted .for rotation alongside of each other, withthe periphcries of the rollers in engagement: these rollers are rotated continuously so that the peripheries of the rollers move downwardlyat the point or line of contact between the same. Each pair. of companion rollers formsa' channel for supporting the grapes resting directly upon therollers. The machine is provided with means cooperating with therotating'rollers toefiect the introduction of the stems of thegrapes between the adjacent faces of the companion rollers so that the stems will be removed by'the rollers. When operating upon elongated grapes, the grapes tend to assume a vpositionin which the longitudinal axes of the. grapes extend longitudinally in the channels of the companion rollers. Inorderto effect the introduction of the stems into the crack or space 40 between the companion rollersQI prefer to reciprocate'the rollers longitudinally. By doing this the grapes are caused torolck in a vertical plane passing through the axes of the grapes and through the line of tangency of thecompanion rollers; In this waylthe endsof the grapes alternatelybecome depressed, and in this way the stenissooner or later become caught between the rollers and are removed.

Innthe preferred embodiment of the invention, I providea table composed of pairs of companion rollers tangentto each other and rotating'in a, direction such that the peripheries of each pair of rollers move downwardly at' their points of contact.,,1n the operation of. the table thecom- 5 the contacting peripheries of the rollers.

3. In a grape stemmer for removing the stems of grapes, the combination of a main frame, a frame supported on the main frame for reciprocation in a plane inclined with respect to a horilO zontal plane, a table mounted on the inclined frame comprising a plurality of adjacent inclined rollers extending longitudinally with the direction in which the inclined frame reclprocates,said rollers comprising pairs of companion rollers with 15 -means for revolving the same in opposite directions so that the peripheries of the rollers of said pairs move downwardly at the line of contact of the rollers, said pairs of rollers forming channels for supporting the grapes resting directly thereupon; and means for reciprocating the inclined frame in a direction substantially parallel with the longitudinal axes of the rollers.

4. In a grape stemmer, the combination of a pair of rollers mounted for rotation alongside of each other with the peripheries of the rollers substantially in engagement with each other, means for rotating the rollers so that the peripheries of the rollers move downwardly at the line of contact of the rollers, said rollers forming a channel for supporting the grapes resting directly thereupon, so that they will remove the stems of the grapes without pulling the grapes between the rollers, and means for reciprocating the rollers in a direction substantially parallel with the axes of the rollers to rock the grapes resting on the rollers to project the stems down into the space between the rollers.

RALPH E. SANBORN.

July 21, 1936. s SANFORD 2,048,471

CONDUIT Filed March 26. 1930 &

. INVENTOR. Rm 5. 5AN FORD A TTORNEY 

